'Titans' is not an instant classic, but its box office performance indicates that a lot of people out there got a good overview of the civil rights issue from a solidly crafted, intelligent film.
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At the end of the year 2000, critics released their lists of the best and worst films of the year. I remember one guy lamenting the "Bruckheimer trifecta" of "Gone in 60 Seconds", "Coyote Ugly", and "Remember the Titans" that was released during the middle months of the year. The last film on that list does not deserve to be abased along the ranks of the other two. Indeed, "Remember the Titans" is one of the finest football films ever made, and it is also a nicely-done populist biopic that serves as an easy gateway for young viewers to learn about an important story that took place during the American civil rights movement.
The funny thing about Jerry Bruckheimer movies is that people are always quick to bash them for their "thudding stupidity", but once in a blue moon, the man does come through with a laudable film. For example, "Crimson Tide", starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, is an excellent dramatic thriller. Mr. Washington reunited with Bruckheimer for "Remember the Titans", a story about the integration of two high schools and two football teams in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971.
Bruckheimer regular Will Patton ("Armageddon", "Gone in 60 Seconds") plays Coach Yoast, the popular and successful coach who´s replaced by Boone when the schools in Alexandria are integrated. Needless to say, tensions are high in every facet of town life, especially when decades of segregation created unfounded fears of blacks and whites about one another.
Washington and Patton give strong performances as the two initially antagonistic coaches. They have very different styles and ideas about how to win, but they learn how to work together. After all, they both have so much to gain and lose in their endeavor. Beyond respecting one another, Boone and Yoast became friends, and the actors make that personal journey believable.
Although this is a biopic about coaches Boone and Yoast, director Boaz Yakin and screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard paint the story in bold, broad strokes. There is the scene where everyone bonds in the locker room while singing along with the radio and telling "yo mama" jokes. There is the "big fat boy" who thinks that he´s dumb but ends up going to college. There are the charismatic leaders who emerge to play their part as men, not boys, on and off the field. There is the racist girlfriend who becomes the symbolic bridge between brother and brother. Then there is nine-year old Sheryl Yoast, a little girl so obsessed with football that she even knows more about strategy than most of the guys on the team. She's a hoot in this movie.
I was working at my school newspaper last year, and one of my colleagues at "The Cornell Daily Sun" actually went to T.C. Williams High. While I did not have a chance to talk to Coach Boone, I did have the pleasure of editing a nice feature article written by a fellow who knew him personally. It was a treat, to say the least.
If my memory serves me correctly, I don't recall this film ever hitting the number one spot at the box office. Yet, "Titans" managed to gross over $100 million at the box office, more than either "Coyote Ugly" or "Gone in 60 Seconds". "Titans" is not an instant classic, but its box office performance indicates that a lot of people out there got a good overview of the civil rights issue from a solidly crafted, intelligent film.
Video:
The video looks gorgeous. In fact, the only DVDs that I've seen look better than "Remember the Titans" were "Saving Private Ryan", "Gladiator", and Buena Vista's own pristine transfer of "Shanghai Noon." Framed at 2.35:1 (anamorphic), the print is so clean that it almost squeaks across your TV. Colors are realistically rendered, and there is nary a sign of video noise or compression artifact. Oscar-winning cinematographer Phillipe Rousselot has been done right on this DVD. (A pan & scan version is available, but don't you dare buy that travesty.)
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